Republican Senator Rand Paul says he will recommend that the Justice Department charge Dr Anthony Fauci with contempt of Congress, advancing an audacious effort by GOP critics to prosecute the well-known scientist over his refusal to testify about the US government response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The former chief medical officer declined questions under subpoena, saying Sen. Rand Paul has an “obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution.”

The move by Paul, the chairman of the Senate’s government affairs committee, effectively sidesteps a vote before the entire chamber.

A Senate committee voted to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress.

Anthony Fauci invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during a hearing last week, speaking only to deliver his opening statement.